Gag. TransCanada plans colossal trans-Canada oil pipeline- dwarfs Keystone XL
(and this wouldn't just be Canada. Part of the plan is to reverse the flow of the 236 mile Portland-Montreal pipeline and send tar sands oil through the most pristine ecosystem in the Northeast)
While the Obama administration dithers over whether to approve TransCanada’s planned Keystone XL pipeline, the pipeline builder announced Thursday that it will pursue an even bigger project connecting Alberta’s tar-sands oil fields with refineries in the nation’s east.
The 2,700-mile, $12 billion Energy East Pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels per day, making it more than a third larger than Keystone XL, which is intended to carry 800,000 bpd.
The line, which still needs regulatory approval, could be in service by late 2017 for deliveries to Quebec and 2018 for New Brunswick, potentially reshaping the Atlantic Basin oil market and opening up new markets for Canadian crude.
Customers have already pledged to use at least 900,000 bpd of the line’s capacity, suggesting that producers and refiners will pay for an export route, while regulatory hurdles delay pipelines in Western Canada and to the United States.
“It looks like they got far more interest than they were initially expecting,” said analyst Sandy Fielden of consulting firm RBN Energy in Austin, Texas.
As you would expect, Canadian environmentalists are appalled at the thought of shipping so much dangerous, climate-changing cargo across their country:
<snip>
http://grist.org/news/transcanada-plans-colossal-trans-canada-oil-pipeline/
<snip>
“All that would happen is that molecules would be flowing in a different direction within the same safe design criteria,’’ said Larry D. Wilson, president and chief executive of Portland Pipe Line Corp.
But opponents see a ploy to make northern New England the first express conduit for what is viewed as the most polluting form of crude, opening the door to increased use and environmentally damaging production of the fuel. Detractors say carbon dioxide and other gases emitted during extraction and processing of Alberta’s ultra-heavy crude known as bitumen contribute to global warming. Moreover, they say, tar sands oil is inherently more toxic than other crudes — and spills would do greater harm.
“This is about whether we should allow pumping of the dirtiest crude oil on earth through some of the most beautiful places in the region,’’ said Dylan Voorhees, clean energy director with the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “From Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom to the clamming muds of Casco Bay.’’
<snip>
“The Portland pipeline isn’t some obscure local issue — it’s a fuse leading straight to one of the most dangerous carbon bombs on the planet,’’ said Bill McKibben, a professor of environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont.
<snip>
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/04/20/after-quiet-years-portland-pipeline-thrust-into-fierce-energy-environmental-debate/iRgZIWT5lW9EVbCIQ9FvvJ/story.html